CELTIC eased the pain of their humiliating Tennent's Cup exit by maintaining their stronghold at the top of the PremierLeague with victory over Kilmarnock. The leaders showed great character to bounce back from the shock from Clyde.

Kilmarnock courageously came from two goals behind with Steven Naismith and Danny Invincibile cancelling out earlier efforts from Shunsuke Nakamura and Shaun Maloney.

But while the home side looked vulnerable at the back throughout, Stephen McManus and Maciej Zurawski saved them more embarrassment.

Many expected Adam Virgo to start after replacing Du Wei at half-time last week. But Strachan elected to start with Roy Keane alongside McManus in the centre of their shaky defence.

And Celtic made the perfect start by taking the lead after just two minutes. Colin Nish upended Stilian Petrov just outside the area and Nakamura stepped up to curl a superb left-foot effort past the hand of Alan Combe and into the top corner of the net.

Artur Boruc saved Naismith's 20-yard strike before the Polish goalkeeper pulled off a great stop to deny Nish.

The striker was sent clean through on goal by Naismith but the goalkeeper raced off his line to make a one handed save.

But Kilmarnock's rally was short-lived as Celtic doubled their advantage from the spot in the 15th minute.

James Fowler could have no complaints after taking the legs of Petrov in the area and Shaun Maloney coolly sent Combe the wrong way.

Zurawski could have killed the game four minutes later after Maloney had played him through but he fired straight at the goalkeeper.

The Rugby Park side were then gifted a chance to reduce the deficit as referee Calum Murray pointed to the spot after McManus had brought down Nish in the area. The impressive Naismith stepped up and sent the ball into the opposite corner to Boruc's dive in the 24th minute.

Kilmarnock supporters were celebrating the equaliser in the 51st minute. Keane was dispossessed by Naismith and he crossed into the area for Invincibile to head past Boruc from close range.

But Celtic took the lead again two minutes later through McManus. A corner caused panic in the Kilmarnock defence and Keane's shot was blocked before his defensive partner pounced and sent the ball home from close range.

Shaun Maloney looked as though he would double Celtic's advantage, but wildly blasted his shot well offtarget. Boruc almost gifted Kilmarnock an equaliser after an embarrassing blunder. The goalkeeper dropped Invincibile's hanging cross but Nish did not anticipate the mistake and missed the chance to score.

Zurawski hit the fourth for the title chasers, steering Ross Wallace's centre home from close range in the 67th minute.